THE GEESE OF FELIFERHOF

1996Proposal for a Monument at the Feliferhof army training ground, Graz, AustriaEsther Shalev-Gerz and Jochen Gerz

In 1996 Esther Shalev-Gerz and Jochen Gerz proposed The Geese of Feliferhof as their invited response to an international competition for a monument to commemorate the Austrian Resistance.

To be sited at Feliferhof – a shooting ground used by the Austrian Army including for the execution of resistance workers – were to be an initial four white flags with printed texts in red: Courage Is Punished With Death; Betraying The Country Is Honoured; The Soldier’s Fiancée is Barbarism and We Too, We Are Called Soldiers. After the initial twelve months the artists proposed that the flags be replaced annually with new texts suggested by soldiers of the Austrian Army.

Having won the competition Shalev-Gerz and Gerz’s proposal was later rejected by the Austrian Army. Whilst often deemed to be a country mute on the subject of Word War II, the rejection of The Geese of Feliferhof fuelled a debate carried out nationally in the press and media, which repeats annually on the anniversary date of the army’s rejection of the work.